Sarasota Opera – Sarasota, Florida

On the final Saturday, when the tenor who was to sing Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations announced he was indisposed, Michael Hendrick was able to learn the score in a matter of hours and, with the orchestra and chorus, give a totally convincing account of a rarely heard work.
~ Opera News, July 1997

About noon the Sarasota Opera learned that the tenor scheduled to sing that evening’s concert of Verdi rarities had begged off. In another company this defection might have caused severe dismay, but Sarasota has a reserve of fine singers ready and willing. So Michael Hendrick sat down with a score of Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations and, a few hours later, could perform it with clarion panache.
~ Financial Times, London, Mar. 27, 1997

The program ended with a rousing rendition of ‘The Hymn of Nations.’ The difficult tenor recitative and descant was performed with style and confidence by Michael Hendrick, substituting for an indisposed colleague. (One never would have guessed that Hendrick learned the work in less than 24 hours!)
~ Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Mar. 26, 1997